... Building culture of innovation in Jamaica

Outlining the expected impact of the national STEM centre, Pinnock, The Mico University College president, says the facility is important for creating a scientific culture and way of thinking in the society. The scientific and technical methodologies, he points out, are best diffused throughout the society through the conduit of teacher education. He notes that teachers are ultimately responsible for moulding people who enter the workforce.

“Those of us in education are concerned about the low levels of growth in the economy and we believe that it is because we are alienating a large percentage of the society. We want to bring them into the mainstream,” Pinnock told The Gleaner.

“One of the shortfalls of the Jamaican workforce is that it is not immersed into the STEM technologies that foster creativity, innovation and all that comes through knowledge of the STEM disciplines,” the president of Mico lamented. He is of the view that the education system has been elitist, where only the so-called cream of the crop are allowed to pursue subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology, with some of those students going on to study for professions in medicine and engineering.

Pinnock further explains the rationale for the project against the background of some of the limitations of the existing education system in Jamaica: “Almost 90 per cent of the population is not immersed in STEM at all, (so)we create a STEM workforce of the minority and many of them move abroad. If we immerse the STEM disciplines in the entire education system, then we capture many more scientifically and technically trained persons. When we introduce it in our teachers’ colleges, the teachers graduate with the concepts. Those already in the schools will be brought back for training and professional development, so it is training for pre-service and in-service teachers.”

FACILITIES

The National STEM Centre, which will occupy more than 8,000 square feet of space on the third floor of the Renford Shirley Building at the Marescaux Road-based Mico campus, will host a SMART STEM teaching and innovation laboratory, a mechatronics lab, an online content development studio, and a SMART conference room.

The Mico-based project is also intended to increase the number and level of STEM-based teaching and learning facilities in Kingston as part of a larger initiative to develop the Corporate Area into a STEM city known locally, regionally and internationally for its scientific and technical training and application. Over the long term, there is also the hope of extending intensive STEM-based teaching and learning to several schools and colleges across the country through the establishment of satellite STEM centres in those areas.